Chapter 128
Once upon a time the oxen held a meeting and decided to do away with the butchers, whose whole art, they said, had been conceived for their destruction. So they sharpened their horns for the battle when a very old ox, who had worked at the plow for a long time, addressed them in the following manner: “Take care, my friends, and make sure you know what you’re doing. At least these men kill us with decency and skill, but if we fall into the hands of botchers instead of butchers, we will suffer a double death. Indeed, you can rest assured that men can exist without butchers, but they will never go without beef.”
Never be in a hurry to exchange one evil for another.
